The Knight After
by Canada07
Summary: A bank robbery attempts to frame the Joker who is being kept in Arkham Asylum. set after the events of The Dark Knight.


_Set after the events of 'The Dark Knight', a robbery is committed in a bank by a group of masked men, Gordon's unit is shocked as the apprehended bank robbers are wearing clown masks, they claim to have been hired by an unknown employer. Gordon notifies Batman, who is now a fugitive, about the incident. _

_The next 24 hours are as follows...

* * *

_

Lucius Fox came out of the analysis room shaking his head at Bruce Wayne, who was silently gazing upon the cloudy sky through the window of the conference room.

"_Nothing,_" Lucius said, throwing the mask aside. "We found absolutely nothing. The mask contained no fingerprints other than of the man who was wearing it."

"That's alright Lucius, we'll get him." Bruce responded. "Chances are, the guy who planned the crime was just some desperate civilian in an awkward attempt to frame a man who is already under the hands of Gotham authorities."

"Someone who doesn't watch the news Mr. Wayne? IT is everywhere after all, the news can't stop stressing the fact that_ he's_ been caught."

"True, but they also can't stop talking about how their sacred hero has turned into a dangerous killer."

Fox paused. "You're talking about Batman, or Dent?"

"_Hopefully," _Bruce gave a weak grin_. _"all the fuss is _still_ about Batman."

"I hope you're not enjoying this. Having to be an 'under the radar' vigilante?"

"I might end up having to, Fox. I'll keep it up as long as I have to. Take the rest of the day off Lucius, I think I owe it to you."

Fox smiled lightly as he watched Bruce make his way to the elevator. "And why is that Mr. Wayne?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Bruce smiled as he entered the elevator and looked back at Fox. "For not quitting." The doors closed in front of him, leaving Fox to stand there alone and reminisce about the past few troubling weeks.

The elevator doors opened revealing the Bat Cave, Alfred was checking the exterior to Batman's newly refurnished vehicle 'The Tumbler'. Bruce carefully scrutinized the vehicle as he walked toward it, not a single scratch. The vehicle had been completely fixed and it took less than a week to do the repairs. This was an all time record. He hoped that the repairmen didn't cut any corners, when it came to the Tumbler, any slight mishap in calculations could have fatal results, but he trusted Alfred to have supervised them properly every step of the way.

"Looks good Alfred," Wayne remarked as he took out the blueprint, "I think I'm gonna take it for a spin later on."

Alfred smiled tapping the vehicle. "Everything here looks good. Anywhere in mind?"

"I think I'm gonna visit an old friend." Bruce indicated, showing Alfred the clown mask that was used during the bank robbery. "I have some questions that only he can answer."

"So soon?" Alfred asked. "Aren't you tired of seeing that man's face?"

"It'll be alright, after all I need a good laugh."

The batsuit rose up from the ground and Bruce took it into his hands, carefully putting it on in front of a now confused Alfred.

"Master Wayne, if you don't mind me asking, how are you going to get into the building? You're a fugitive, the guards will probably crack down on the sight of you."

"Gordon's meeting me there."

"Okay," Alfred gave a calm friendly smile. "good enough."

Bruce nodded his head and put on the Batman mask. He opened the vehicle's door, stepped in and sat down carefully. He gradually adjusted his position for a couple of minutes.

"Oh by the way," Alfred added. "they asked me if I wanted softer leather, more comfortable seats in the cockpit of the vehicle and I told them, comfort wasn't your first priority."

_"Thanks Alfred."_ Batman said as the vehicle's doors closed.

* * *

Batman drove the Tumbler subtly through the streets of Gotham, but this didn't stop random passerbys from noticing. He arrived at the back of Arkham Asylum and put the Tumbler in 'silent' mode as he waited for Gordon to pull up. Several minutes later, a cruiser shows up and the Commissioner steps out of the car. At that moment, Batman steps out as well. Jim nods slightly to the right indicating that it was time to go in. The two of them started walking, neither of them spoke. As the two men reached the front doors they were confronted by a guard who immediately pulled out a gun once he saw Batman.

"Whoa, whoa." Jim expressed calmly, putting out his left hand and showing the guard his badge with his right hand. "I am Commisioner James Gordon, here on special assignment from the Gotham Police Force. He's with me, it's okay, _everything_ is under control sir."

The guard reluctantly put down his gun staring at the Commisioner and the black suit as they walked into Arkham. They walked the first hallway and found an Arkham worker sitting at a booth. Gordon gives the worker a sheet of paper, which the worker reads carefully.

"Mhm." He utters quietly as he reads it. "Joker..." As if saying those words had done something powerful to him as he said it, the worker slowly looked up at Gordon and realized Batman was standing behind him, his eyes widened. He signaled Batman to come to the front of the booth. The worker pressed a button and paged someone to the front office booth.

"Listen... uh," The worker started hesitantly as he stared at Batman "You never really _did _all those bad things they saying bout you on the news right?"

Silence.

"Uh..." The worker continued, "My son, he's... a really big fan uh yours and uh... He believes you's a good guy, he believes in you. Can... Can I get a quick autograph for the boy? If you'd be so kind."

The Batman put both his hands down on the booth looking the man straight in the eyes.

_"Tell your son... To keep believing..."_ He says to the worker. At that time the man whom the worker paged arrived.

The man carried a taser, he ordered Batman and Jim to follow along as he led them to Joker's room. When they arrived there, a nurse stood by the door carrying soup and bread on a tray.

"Nurse Quinzell," The man with the taser said, "we're gonna need you to bring that back later, we have a small operation going on here."

The Nurse looked at Jim, then sneaked a long hard look at Batman.

"Nurse Quinzell, this is important" Jim asserted her, "Please."

The Nurse walked away without saying a word. Then the man took out a set of keys and opened the door to Joker's room. Jim stood aside and looked at Batman.

"He's all yours." Jim said.

Batman walked into the cold dark room and the door shut loudly behind him.


End file.
